The story unfolds in an Armenian village during the years of civil strife. A young man studying in a distant imperial capital returns to his homeland, where childhood memories, the familiar natural landscape, and his love for Arevhat await him. Bright images of the past collide with the brutal reality of war. The apricot tree becomes a symbol of loss, native soil, and memory. The work explores the connection between personal pain and historical events.

In 1920s New York, amid the contrasts between factories, working-class neighborhoods, and the lavish mansions of the wealthy, a world of social inequality unfolds before George and the narrator. The fate of Poti, an Italian worker, the courage of Ivy, who distributes literature in the streets, and the quiet presence of Helena, a servant, bring together themes of labor, poverty, hostility toward immigrants, and moral double standards. Beneath the city's glitter lies an unjust order that governs people's lives.

In the northern United States at the beginning of the 20th century, Tom, who works in a carpet store, and his white friends try to overcome racial prejudice in their everyday lives. Having fled the South under threat of lynching, the young man gradually comes to appreciate the value of equality and human dignity in his new surroundings. Through his experiences, different perspectives on work, class inequality, discrimination, and love are revealed.

The story unfolds in the American South in the 1920s, decades after the Civil War, when slavery had already been abolished but racial discrimination continued to shape human relationships. The narrator lives in the Riggs household and witnesses their treatment of their new neighbors, the Booker family. The author explores prejudice, human dignity, and the contradiction between the law and reality.